beef tenderloin with apricot and olives

by jenna on November 20, 2010

Do you have dinner plans tonight?

I think you really should make this beef tenderloin with apricot and olives.

Tonight.

Seriously.

I normally would save this kind of recipe for a Monday or a Tuesday, but I just made it myself and can’t help but share. It’s just that good. It’s my mom’s recipe and, well, she knows her stuff. The beef is sauteed and then tossed in a mouth watering tangy sauce made from apricot preserves, kalamata olives and vinegar, and then finished off with baby spinach and fluffy jasmine rice. I’m guessing mom adapted this from an old Bon Appetit or Gourmet recipe, and it really just hits the spot.

Plus, it comes together in only about twenty minutes, making it the perfect Saturday evening meal.

Are you sold yet?

When it comes to BEEF, I don’t mess around.

I rarely eat it, so when I do, I go big or go home. I buy grass-fed organic and always opt for the best quality possible. While you could make this dish with chicken (mom has before), it’s just not as good. For some reason, the apricot sauce just really works best with beef. So beef it is!

Here you have about a pound of diced sirloin. To begin, I’m going to brown the beef in one tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat.

This takes about six minutes. You just want the beef to be cooked about medium/rare. Don’t go overboard or else it’ll dry out!

Then, remove the beef with a spatula, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place it on a clean plate while you make the sauce.

Now it’s time to get saucy! Add three cloves of chopped garlic to the same pan you cooked the beef in.

It’s going to smell really, really, really good. Get ready!

Once that’s cooked for a few minutes, add three tablespoons of red wine vinegar to deglaze the pan.

And then a whole cup of apricot preserves. I really never even LIKED apricot preserves until I had this dish.

Yummy. As the sauce cooks, it thickens and gets an almost caramelized note to it. I mean, just look at that color!

Add a cup of roughly chopped olives…

Also add the beef back in and a bag of spinach!

Cook for a few minutes so that the beef heats through and the spinach wilts. Then ladle this deliciousness right onto a pile of jasmine rice and consume.

It doesn’t really have to be “jasmine” rice, I suppose…but I’m doing what my mom says to do.

A good lesson in life, no?

And that, my friends, is a darn good dinner. Make it for a crowd or make it for yourself. Why? Because you’re worth it.

Beef Tenderloin with Apricot and Olives

serves 4

1 1/4 lbs beef tenderloin, chopped into large cubes

1 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 T red wine vinegar

1 cup apricot preserves

1 6-oz bag baby spinach

1 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

jasmine rice to serve

Brown the beef in the olive oil over medium high heat. When it’s medium rare, remove from pan, set on a plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Add the minced garlic to the same pan you cooked the beef in. Cook for about three minutes and then add the vinegar to deglaze the pan, stirring well to scrape up any brown bits. Add the apricot preserves and cook for four minutes, until the sauce bubbles and thickens. Add the olives, beef and spinach and heat through, cooking for a few minutes so that the spinach wilts and the beef finishes cooking.

This looks absolutely delish! I’ll have to make this for the husband soon…I think he might love red meat more than he loves me (and I love that it’s a quick recipe to throw together, so it’s all good!)

Since my freezer is full of grass fed beef, I want to make this. But none of it is sirloin. I have shank, a soup bone with meat on it, flank, a rib eye, an eye of round. Which one would be best? The shank and soup bone?

YUM! I love apricot preserves in cooking! My sister makes a dish similar (kind of) to this one except with chicken, whole apricots, Spanish green olives, Kalamata olives AND (wait for it), prunes. It sounds gross; but somehow the fruit and olives just work magically together!

I love how simple this is even though the tastes all sound like they combine to a pretty gourmet feeling meal. I crave beef while pregnant so this sounds REALLY good to me right now. We’re getting beef from a half cow share we went in on, so when that comes in this will have to be on the menu.

I never comment on these things but I saw this and think I should make it! I’m starting to like your blog more than some others because you eat more like a normal person with a heavy emphasis on eating for flavor and not just nutrients. I get a little exhausted by how orthorexic a lot of bloggers in this community come across as. You are refreshing so thank you:)

I don’t eat beef very often either, so I’m the same way as you! When I get it, I go all out! These photos are absolutely gorgeous, and I bet they STILL don’t even do justice to the taste. I’m very excited to try this recipe. Have a feeling my boyfriend is going to love it too! Thanks so much!!

Jenna, just discovered your site and am REALLY enjoying reading through recent posts — your enthusiasm for food and cooking jumps off the page! Seriously, I don’t eat much beef either, but I am trying this recipe ASAP. These posts give me hope that I can be a good cook, not just an enthused lover of food. Thanks!

Jenna, you have pretty much turned into my cookbook. Actually, I strayed and I had a torte failure. Fortunately, I made cake balls with it and the ganache.
I also made this dish on Friday and it was SO. GOOD. Even better than I imagined. The olives are so perfect. And it was so fast. My boyfriend was so shocked that we had a delicious, and quick meal. Our kitchen exploits generally take hours.
And on that note, I’m off to make your linguine with clams for dinner, again.
I really sound like I have a problem.

Oh my stars. I made this last night and it took every ounce of willpower not to eat the entire pan in one sitting. So delicious. I still can’t get over how well the tangy melds with the salty melds with the sweet. Kinda reminded me of chinese food, but not quite. Regardless it was bangin. Adding this one to my regular dinner rotation…